Early Buddhist Architecture in Context: The Great Stupa at Amaravata (Ca. 300 Bce-300 Ce), Akira Shimada, BRILL

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Early Buddhist Architecture in Context: The Great Stupa at Amaravata (Ca. 300 Bce-300 Ce)
By: Akira Shimada

Early Buddhist Architecture in Context: The Great Stupa at Amaravata (Ca. 300 Bce-300 Ce), Akira Shimada, BRILL

Our Price: $140.00

Author: Akira Shimada
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9789004232839
Publication Date: 2012

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Product Code: 18162

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Contents

Since the dramatic discovery and tragic destruction of the monument in the 19th century, the Amaravati stupa in the south-east Deccan has attracted many scholars but has also left many unanswered questions. Akira Shimada's Early Buddhist Architecture in Context provides an updated and comprehensive chronology of the stupa and its architectural development based on the latest sculptural, epigraphic and numismatic evidence combined with the survey of the early excavation records. It also examines the wider social milieu of the south-east Deccan by exploring archaeological, epigraphic and related textual evidence. These analyses reveal that the flowering of the stupa was not a simple accomplishment of the powerful Satavahana dynasty, but was the result of the long-term development of urbanization of this region between ca. 200 BCE-250 CE.
Early Buddhist Architecture in Context: The Great Stupa at Amaravata (Ca. 300 Bce-300 Ce), Akira Shimada, BRILL, Hardcover, 332 pp, $140.00

	Acknowledgements	xi
	Abbreviations	xv
	Note on Transliteration and Citation of Primary Sources	xvii
	List of Figures, Tables, Maps and Plates	xix
	Plates	xxvi

	Introduction: Discovery of the Amaravati Stupa	1
I.	Discovery of the Stupa and Early Excavations	3
II.	Historiography	11
	1. Archaeological, Epigraphic and Art-Historical Analysis	11
	2. Historical Analysis	19
	3. Methodological Problems	22
III.	Possible Approaches	24
	1. Comprehensive Examination of the Objects in Site Context	25
	2. Intensive Survey of Archaeological and Epigraphic Data for Recovering Regional History	26
	3. Active Reading of the Archaeological and Epigraphic Data	26
IV.	The Scheme of This Study	27

	1. Dynastic History	31
I.	The Pre-Historic and Geographical Setting	31
	1. The Lower Krishna Valley	31
	2. Pre-Historic Settlements	33
	3. Amaravati	35
II.	The Early Historic Period (ca. 300 BCE-300 CE)	37
	1. The Mauryan Period	37
	2. The Post-Mauryan Period	39
	3. The Sadas	40
	4. The Satavahanas	42
	5. The Iksvakus	47
III.	Chronological Framework	48
	1. The Starting Date of the Later Satavahanas	49
	2. The Termination Date of the Later Satavahanas	51
	3. The Date of the Sadas	54
	4. The Early Satavahanas	54

	Summary

	2. Chronological And Architectural Reconstruction	59
I.	Mauryan (?) Foundation of the Stupa and Early Period of Construction (ca. 200-100 BCE)	59
	1. Foundation of the Stupa	59
	2. Date for the Earliest Architectural Remains	66
	3. Dimensions of the Early Stupa	72
	4. Link to Pre-Buddhist Building Traditions	75
II.	Late Period of Construction (ca. 50 BCE-250 CE)	81
	1. Enlargement of the Stupa	81
	2. Construction of a New Limestone Railing	82
	3. Refurbishment of the Stupa	104

	Summary	112

	3. Social Development	113
I.	Transition to Early Historic Society: The Mauryan Period	113
II.	Formation of Proto States: The Post Mauryan Period	116
	1. Localization of State Infrastructures	116
	2. Socio-Economic Development	119
III.	Expansion and Intensification: The Sada-Satavahana Period	123
	1. From Regional State to Inter-regional State	123
	2. Expansion of Socio-Economic Spaces	128
IV.	The Transformation of Society: Epigraphic Evidence	135
	1. The Prevalence of Writing	136
	2. Disintegration of Traditional Society	142

	Summary

	4. Buddhist Patronage	147
I.	The Development of Buddhist Patronage	148
	1. The Rise of the Urban Ethic in Early Historic India	148
	2. Buddhist Patronage	151
II.	Organization of Buddhist Construction Work	155
	1. The Laymen: the Intermediaries	155
	2. The Samgha: the Supervisor	158
	3. The Kings: A Catalyst	160
	4. Stupa: The Architecture of Collective Patronage	163

	Summary	168

	5. City and Monastery	171
I.	The Spatial Relationship between Buddhist Monasteries and Cities	172
II.	Components of the 'Outside' Spaces	182
	1. Funerary Spaces	182
	2. Trade/Exchange	183
III.	Nature of the 'Outside' Spaces	185
	1. Insecurity	186
	2. Impurity	186
	3. Transcendence	188
IV.	Social Roles of Buddhist Monasteries in Peripheral Spaces	191

	Summary

	Conclusion	197
I.	Amaravati: The Urban Monastery	197
II.	Transformation of Andhran Monastic Buddhism (ca. 250 CE)	200

	Appendix
A.	Description of the West Gate of the Amaravati Stupa: Extract from Walter Elliot's Note Found with Pencil Sketches, 1845	205
B.	Early Historic Sites in Andhra Pradesh	208
C.	Amaravati inscriptions	237

	Bibliography	243
	Index	261

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